We outline here selected policies and concordats relevant to our award holders, which should be read in conjunction with the Terms and Conditions of your award.
Please visit the webpage for your scheme to download the latest version of the Terms and Conditions for your award, and download the full policies referenced here from the side of this page.
Relevant concordat
Concordat on Openness on Animal Research
This Concordat outlines best practice for being more open about animal research. The four commitments that signatories make are to: be clear about when, how and why animals are used in research; enhance communications with the media and the public about research using animals; be proactive in providing opportunities for the public to find out about research using animals; and report on progress annually and share experiences.
Please read our grant holder brief to find out how our commitments as signatories of the Concordat affect your Academy of Medical Sciences award.
San Francisco Declaration of Research Assessment
The Academy is a signatory of the San Francisco Declaration of Research Assessment (DORA) and our Panel members and peer reviewers are requested not to use journal-based metrics, such as Journal Impact Factors, as a surrogate measure of the quality of individual research articles. In your application, we ask you to highlight three of your publications and outline their significance and your role in these studies. This question is intended to promote thorough consideration of the content of a publication or other research output, rather than the impact factor of the journal it is published in.
For more information on all the concordats we support, please visit our Concordats page.
Relevant policy
Open Access policy
The Academy’s mission is to create an open and progressive research sector to improve the health of people everywhere. We believe that unrestricted online access to scientific publications for all - Open Access - supports this ambition. Awardees are required to:
- Ensure that peer-reviewed, original research publications are available immediately upon publication, if possible, or otherwise within six months of the publication date on Europe PMC, through utilising either a Gold or Green route to Open Access.
- Many academic journals will make a published article Open Access if an article processing charge is paid. While the Academy will not fund article processing charge fees separately from our research award, applicants may cost article processing charge fees in their grant applications and where a publication has been funded wholly by the Academy of Medical Sciences, underspend on an Academy grant may also be used to meet the cost. If Academy awards are to be used to pay for APCs, then we expect these publications to be OA at the point of publication and not within six months.
- Where possible, awardees should seek to retain copyright. Adopting a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license is recommended as it enables re-use of publications via text- and data-mining.
Please read the Academy’s Open Access policy for more information.
In line with our Open Access Policy, we are supportive of our researchers publishing their research in Open Access Journals and platforms, for example on the recently launched Health Open Research, which publishes a broad range of peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed article types, including study protocols, case reports, clinical practice articles, policy and position statements, policy briefs, meeting and conference materials and full papers. For more information on journal Open Access routes, visit the Europe PMC website and the RoMEO Journals database.
Bullying and Harrassment policy
The Academy of Medical Sciences seeks to ensure that all staff and other individuals engaging in Academy activities can work in an environment that respects their rights and dignity, and that is free from unacceptable behaviour and conduct. The Academy does not tolerate any form of harassment or bullying.
The Academy encourages any individual witnessing or experiencing bullying, harassment or other forms of misconduct to report their experience, so that the support available can be used to resolve the situation as early as possible. The Academy will ensure that the complainant is not penalised whether directly or indirectly for bringing a complaint and the situation will be monitored to ensure that the harassment has stopped.
This policy applies to Academy grant holders and extends to all Academy activities whether they are during working hours or outside of normal working hours, on or off the premises, UK or international, or delivered directly by the Academy or via third parties.
Please read the Academy’s Bullying and Harrassment policy for more information.
Open Access position statement